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Government Reintroduces The ID Cards Bill

Please Note: There are currently no plans for further biometric trials.

A secure compulsory national identity cards scheme ...

on 2005-05-26 03:12:30

Reference: 5775 - Date: 25 May 2005 13?

Please Note: There are currently no plans for further biometric trials.

A secure compulsory national identity cards scheme would protect people's identities and help the UKtackle illegal immigration, organised crime and abuse of free public services, Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said today as the Identity Cards Bill was reintroduced in the House of Commons.

The scheme, to be phased in over a number of years, would link basic personal information, such as name and address, to secure biometrics - a computer scan of a person's iris, face or fingerprints. These are unique and provide a hi-tech form of security for every citizen. From 2008, applicants for a new passport would also receive an identity card.

Mr McNulty said:

"A secure national identity cards scheme would protect everyone's identity and help prepare the UKfor the challenges of the 21st century. Across the world there is a drive to increase the security of identity documents, to safeguard borders and reduce threats from overseas. The plans set out today will ensure the UKis at the forefront of that drive and making the most of the benefits for our citizens.

"Our identities are incredibly valuable to us and too easily stolen. ID fraud is a growing crime which can ruin lives and underpin illegal activities from people-trafficking to credit card fraud, from abuse of our healthcare and benefits systems to terrorism.

Ensures checks can be made against other databases to confirm an applicant's identity and guard against fraud.

Sets out what information would be held and what safeguards would be put in place.

Enables public and private sector organisations to verify a person's identity by checking against the National Identity Register, with the person's consent, to validate their identity before providing services.

Creates new criminal offences on the possession of false identity documents, including genuine documents that have been improperly obtained or relate to someone else.

Includes enabling powers so that in the future access to specified public services could be linked to the production of a valid identity card.

Provides a power at a future date for it to become compulsory to register and be issued with a card, including penalties against failure to register.

It would not be compulsory to carry a card and there would be no new powers for police to demand to see a card. However, this would be a universal scheme for everyone legally resident in the UK and it will be compulsory to register on the scheme.

The Home Office also published today the findings of the UK Passport Service biometrics enrolment trial. The trial gave more than 10,000 people across the country the opportunity to experience face, fingerprint and iris enrolment, sought their views on the experience, and surveyed their attitudes towards the use of biometrics. This was the first time such a large-scale trial involving all three biometrics has been carried out in the UK.

The majority of participants strongly agreed that biometrics will help with passport security, preventing identity fraud, preventing illegal immigration and are not an infringement of civil liberties. Across all three biometrics, the vast majority of participants found their expectations of the overall experience to have been either met or bettered.

Notes

The Identity Cards Bill was published today and will be available at www.parliament.uk .

The UK Passport Service biometric enrolment trial results are available at www.ukps.gov.uk .

The previous Home Secretary, David Blunkett, announced the Government's intention to introduce a compulsory national identity cards scheme on 11 November 2003 (Home Office press notice 307/2004), when the Home Office also published a summary of the proposals ('Identity Cards: the next steps', available at: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/comrace/identitycards/publications.html ). A draft Identity Cards Bill was published on 26 April 2004(Home Office press notice 159/2004). The Home Affairs Select Committee published it pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Identity Cards Bill on 30 July 2004and the Government responded on 27 October 2004(Home Office press notice 331/2004).

The previous Identity Cards Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 29 November 2004and received its second reading in the House of Lords on 21 March 2005. The Bill did not receive Royal Assent by the date when Parliament was dissolved on 11 April 2005.

A development partner (PA Consulting) bringing in detailed expertise from outside Government, was appointed in May 2004 to help determine the best way of designing and implementing the scheme (Home Office press notice 196/2004).

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